Mental Health Status of Parent of Children with Special Needs

Human life is a unique adventure. Every child brings into the world a pattern on its fingertips never seen before. Any physical, mental, or emotional problem, which interferes with the normal growth and development of a child is a special needs condition. Understanding the mental health of parents as well as family members of disabled children are of great importance. The present research has focused on parental mental health in relation to the presence of a child with special needs. The sample consisted of 200 parents, of which 100 were parents of children with special needs (study group) and 100 parents of normal children (control group). The tools used were Mental Health Status Scale and personal data sheet. Difference between the control group and the study group has been analyzed using t-test. T-test has also been used to verify the influence of parental education, category of the child and gender (parental) on their mental health status. It was found that there exist significant difference between the parents of children with special needs and parents of normals on Mental Health Status. Variables like Education, Income, Gender, Category of the child and Religion do not have any influence on Mental Health.